"One Day, I Shall Live By the Code of Honor."
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The invading mare was a hulking thing, an ivory mountain snorting in the morning mists, looming over Laila as she stalked the ebony filly, matching the acolyte step for step. Yet it was the blood-red V that Laila saw, regarding it as though it were her opponent instead of its owner; feeling as though the marking mocked her, coaxing her into battle. Come here, come attack, it whispered in the mist. It didn’t matter that the war-paint framed eyes the color of water, big, dewy orbs that Laila could’ve been friends with in a different age, at a different time, in a different universe where she wasn’t plunged into the flames of war. No, those eyes were a lie. The heat of battle was here, and as that V towered high above the acolyte, Laila didn’t think, and through her forced calm her path was clear.
The front hooves were capable of quick attack; Laila had narrowly dodged out from under their strikes mere moments ago, feeling the rush of wind from their movement against the tender, blood-soaked laceration on her leg. But at this moment it was the horn she must be wary of; face to face with a unicorn, an equine’s weakness was clear, and the thing to do now was to get away from it. However, before Laila came upon a method of escape from under the lethal weapon, the invader bolted forward; flecks and slabs of mud flew in every direction in the scramble of hooves as the grey intruder charged for Laila, and the acolyte in turn dove to the right in an effort to avoid the attack.
It was a trick, though; the invader shifted as well, and just as Laila realized her folly and attempted to stop her movement to give chase, hooves flew from nowhere, whippet quick things that struck Laila’s left flank with the intensity of a battering ram. Laila's body was already in motion though, and other than a jolt and wobble in her legs and a small slide in the mud, the ebony filly was able to keep on her feet. There was a gasp, however--and then came her cry, muffled from behind clenched teeth with tears springing from her eyes. With the kick on her side and the furious throb of her right quarter as she skidded to a halt, pain exploded all throughout her body in a great burst that traveled seemingly from muscle to muscle, vein to vein, bone to bone. There was no refuge from the agony—and for a span of moments, the whirling panic broke through and Laila was convinced she was going to die. Father, please. Father, I’m trying, I’m trying.
No, whispered another voice in her head defiantly. Don’t think. Don’t think.
With a furious snort, Laila collected her legs underneath herself and, with an eruption of power, propelled herself to the left and toward the invader, digging her hooves deep into the earth to gain traction. She tried not to think about the growing warmth that ran down her leg, tried not to imagine blood sheeting down her muscle and tangle her feathers in gore; she tried not to focus on the pain in her quarters as she forced them into movement or the sharpness in her chest that blossomed with every intake of breath. No, her focus was her hooves—that she lifted them from the slick earth with as much precision as possible, quickly and efficiently so they didn’t become caught into a slick sort of trap—and her quarry in front of her, who was in the middle of turning her body, horn slashing in the air. The invader was large in body, though, and as much pain Laila was in, somehow the acolyte found the momentum to spring with swiftness and agility befitting her size; her charge furious and her aim set for the right side of the intruder’s neck and chest, Laila made to crash into her before the horn slashed in the way, trying to upset the balance and inertia of the moving warrior as best as she could. Reaching forward with hungry jaws, Laila also attempted to bite the withers of the grey mare as she came close, to sink her teeth into the harbinger of her world’s ruin and cause whatever pain she could. The acolyte wanted justice; she wanted to see that blood-red V fall.
[W/C: 765
3/4]
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[O] No dawn, no day [Judge] [INVASION]
